Rockford parking decks go electric

Automatic parking meters went live Monday morning at the city’s four downtown parking decks, replacing live attendants.

Greg Stanley

Automatic parking meters went live Monday morning at the city’s four downtown parking decks, replacing live attendants.

The next 30 days will be a sort of grace period, where drivers will continue to only be charged to park in the decks during weekdays. Then the city will start charging all day, every day.

The move to the automatic meters opens all four spots to hourly and daily parking, which may increase daytime access downtown. Three of the four decks had been reserved for permit holders.

But at night, it represents a culture change for downtown Rockford, when after 5 p.m., almost all parking has been free.

Some, such as Ald. Tom McNamara, D-3, are concerned about what it will mean to downtown business and whether it will hurt momentum for downtown attractions.

"We want customers to drop in without feeling like they have to run out to the car before they get a ticket," McNamara said. "If you’re a minimum wage or hourly worker how are you going to manage to also spend on parking?"

Aldermen hired ABM Parking Services in February to manage the city’s entire parking system. The national firm writes parking tickets, sells monthly permits and sets up ticket appeal hearings. Mainly, the city hired ABM to increase revenue and cut inefficiencies in its parking system.

The contract with ABM requires the company to invest about $900,000 in the new equipment, said Jeremy Carter, city traffic engineer.

"That equipment brings some value," Carter said.

The rates and hours are still set by city officials. There are no planned changes to Rockford’s street parking policies.

The city will use the revenue gained from the deck meters to maintain the decks, repave the lots and eventually build a new parking deck, Carter said.

The grace period will give time for a downtown parking committee to form, which will be made up of aldermen, staff and downtown business owners that will talk about parking rates and needs, Mayor Larry Morrissey announced Monday.

"We have to have the system pay for itself," Morrissey said. "The best way to do that is get feedback from the users."